HONOLULU (AP) — Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te arrived Saturday in Hawaii to start a two-day transit within the U.S. as a part of a visit to the South Pacific, his first since assuming workplace.
The stopover in Hawaii and one deliberate for the territory of Guam have drawn fierce criticism from Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its personal territory and objects to official exchanges between the self-ruled democracy and the U.S., the island’s greatest backer and army supplier.
There had been no high-ranking U.S. or Hawaii state officers to greet Lai on the Honolulu resort the place supporters cheered in Mandarin, some waving Taiwanese flags. He visited Hawaii’s main museum of pure historical past and Native Hawaiian tradition, Bishop Museum. Later, he was anticipated to attend a banquet with supporters.
Lai is on a weeklong journey to go to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island within the Pacific. Though Taiwan retains robust contacts with dozens of different nations, it has solely 12 formal diplomatic allies.
Bishop Museum CEO Dee Jay Mailer introduced Lai with a crimson lei hulu, or feather garland, made by grasp featherwork artist Kawika Lum-Nelmida. Lai gave Mailer a headdress, made by Paiwan Indigenous individuals of Taiwan, and neck and shoulder ornamental items made by Atayal Indigenous individuals, additionally of Taiwan.
Lai’s go to reveals that Taiwan and the United States have a really robust relationship, mentioned Arthur Chen, the president of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of North America. He flew to Hawaii from his house close to Dallas to welcome the president to the U.S.
Chen mentioned he understood the U.S. has its personal international coverage however he mentioned Lai needs to be handled as a head of state throughout his keep.
Taiwan and the U.S. share frequent values like a perception in democracy and human rights, Chen mentioned. “So we must always assist one another,” he mentioned.
Lai didn’t make any public remarks at his preliminary engagements in Hawaii, however spoke earlier than his departure from Taiwan.
“I wish to use the values of democracy, peace, and prosperity to proceed to broaden our cooperation with our allies, to deepen our partnership and let the world see Taiwan not simply as a mannequin of democracy, however a significant energy in selling the world’s peace and stability, and affluent improvement,” he mentioned at Taoyuan International Airport.
It is unclear whether or not Lai will meet with any members of the incoming U.S. administration throughout his transit.
President-elect Donald Trump mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan ought to pay for its protection. The island has bought billions of {dollars} of protection weaponry from the U.S.
Trump evaded answering whether or not he would defend the island from Chinese army motion. On Friday, the U.S. State Department mentioned it accredited the sale of $385 million in spare elements and gear for a fleet of F-16s, in addition to help for tactical communication system to Taiwan.
While the U.S. is obligated to assist the island defend itself underneath the Taiwan Relations Act, it has maintained a place of strategic ambiguity over whether or not it might ever become involved if Taiwan had been to be invaded by China.
A second Trump administration is anticipated to check U.S.-China relations much more than the Republican’s first time period, when the U.S. imposed tariffs on greater than $360 billion in Chinese merchandise.
Taiwan is without doubt one of the foremost sources of stress within the bilateral relationship.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning mentioned on Friday if the U.S. wished to keep up peace within the Taiwan Strait, it can be crucial for it to deal with the Taiwan problem “with utmost warning, clearly opposing Taiwan independence and supporting China’s peaceable reunification.”
She additionally mentioned China firmly opposes any type of official interplay between the U.S. and Taiwan, together with visits by Taiwan’s leaders to the U.S. for any purpose.
When former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen went to the U.S. final yr as a part of a transit to Latin America, it drew vocal opposition from China. Tsai met with the previous House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the time. Tsai visited Hawaii in 2019.
The Chinese army additionally launched drills round Taiwan final yr as a “stern warning” over what it referred to as collusion between “separatists and international forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vp, stopped over within the U.S.
China additionally strongly objects to main American politicians visiting the island because it views any official contact with international governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
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Wu reported from Bangkok.
